A/N Please note the rating for the story has changed to M (conservatively for this chapter, more so for future chapters). FYI our favourite ship will be sailing to Storybrooke next chapter - hope you join us for the ride.
Sorry to those who don't do OQFF where the OQ baby is not called Hope. While I think it's a great OQ baby name I am one that supports the view that variety is the spice of life :) As a passionate OQ shipper I respect that we've all got our lines in the sand, and really appreciate the respectful way you all presented your views. There was not a troll among you so sincerely thank you.
Once again the usual disclaimers apply and I sincerely appreciate all your generous reviews, follows and favs.
Robin quietly shut the screen door behind him as he exited Regina's house at the ranch. Henry was reading Alayna a story before bed and asked Robin to make sure Regina was ready to talk about returning to Storybrooke once Lainey was in bed. Henry wanted to get back as soon as possible to help Emma and was not going to rest until there was a definite plan to leave.
Dinner had been tense, and Robin thanked the Gods for Alayna who seemed to keep the level of anxiety to a reasonable level. Robin was enthralled by her – he wanted to drink in every moment, every giggle, every dimpled smile. Now he had met her, he couldn't imagine leaving this place without her and Regina. He just hoped together he and Henry could convince her to return.
Regina had been edgy the entire meal. Pushing food around her plate barely managing a bite while watching Alayna and Robin intently with an expression he was unable to read. As soon as the meal was over she made an excuse to leave – asking Henry to watch over his sister while she fed and watered the horses. Henry looked at Mac with a look of confusion, almost pleading and when Mac stood, seemingly to tell her not to worry, that he would do it, she silenced him with one pained look. Regina exited the ranch house at a quick pace, allowing the screen door to slam in her haste to leave.
That had been nearly two hours ago and Robin had managed to hold Henry off at first, his experience of Regina in the Enchanted Forest telling him she needed some time to herself though not sure of the precise reason why she needed that time at this moment. Dinner had been tense sure, but not nearly as bad as he thought it would be. Henry and Mac had managed to keep conversation flowing and Lainey's giggles and excited squeals had kept everyone smiling. But something had obviously upset Regina, and Robin could only hope that he was able to alleviate her discomfort. He needed to win her back and he needed to know what she needed from him in order to do that.
Robin's instinct told him to wait for Regina to return of her own accord, but Henry was insistent. The 'Charming' coming out in him, Robin mused, for several times in the Enchanted Forest Charming or Snow had sent him on a similar errand… To call the Queen to council, and that had always ended well now hadn't it? With a fireball often tossed his way or if he was lucky a glare and a few harsh words about how she was no pet to be called to heel.
Robin approached the barn and in his mind recalled a similar night like this in the Enchanted Forest. There he had gone looking for a Queen and for the first time had met Regina. She had been quietly brushing one of the mare's in a stall, still dressed in her Evil Queen regalia, a full face of make up and what he could only imagine were a decent sized pair of heels treading through the hay and muck in the stall, but beneath the harshly painted eyes he saw a softness in her that he had never seen there before. She murmured quietly to the mare and let the horse feed from her palm as she brushed her. By the gods it had stirred his soul.
As Robin opened the door to the stables he fully anticipated to be faced with a similar sight (sans Evil Queen apparel) and could not have been more shocked to find Regina at a second entrance to stables larger by far than any he had ever seen. The entrance was on the opposite side from where he stood and there she was, unloading bales of hay off the back of a truck onto a pile just inside the entrance to the stables. She was using two large hooks, driving them into either side of the hay before lifting it from the truck. Completing by herself, what was clearly a job for two with a deftness he would not have imagined of such a small woman – though Regina was never one to let her size stop her from doing anything. He walked towards her at a slow steady pace, as though pulled by an invisible string, compelled by something that he could not control.
It had been two years since he had seen her, touched her the way he ached to touch her, kissed her as he dreamed of doing since he threw away what they had in a stupid moment of temper. He had imagined them meeting again in so many different circumstances, but never in his wildest dreams did he ever imagine this. And never did he think the sight of her could turn him on more than it had in the past, but gods he was having trouble controlling himself.
She was slick with sweat having obviously been working at moving the hay for a quite some time. It was a warm evening and she had stripped off her shirt and carried out the task only in her simple white singlet, a singlet that put the muscles in her shoulders and arms on display – muscles he knows for a fact she didn't have two years ago – gods has she been doing this kind of hard labour for two years? He nearly groaned at the thought.
The thin fabric of her singlet combined with her sweat had turned the garment transparent and all the right places and when she turned around he had a clear view of her cleavage and the outline of her bra. It was modest in comparison to the revealing outfits she wore in the Enchanted Forest, where fabric was strategically placed, not rendered transparent to reveal, but he hadn't seen her in two years! The sight of her labored breathing, the sweat on her skin and the fierceness in her eyes had him half hard by the time she realized he was there and stopped working.
Looking over her shoulder only enough to confirm it was Robin, as she suspected, she reached for a bottle of water from the back of the truck and took a long drink. She put the bottle down and turned fully to face him, finally meeting his eyes with a cold expression that reminded him of the Enchanted Forest. 'Thief,' she said by way of greeting. Her voice low and seductive, and he could tell the way her eyes widened as soon as the word left her mouth that she hadn't fully thought about her choice of address, nor had she intended the sultry tone of her voice when she said it. And as he all but leapt on her, crashing his mouth into hers, he knew she realized that had been a huge mistake…
The two hours since Regina had left Robin and Henry had passed by in what seemed like minutes. She had brought in the horses that had been out in the paddock, their stalls cleaned earlier by one of the stable hands and had set about unloading one of the trucks. It was not something she usually did but everyone chipped in to help and she had a desperate need for physical labour after the agony that was dinner.
Dinner with Robin had been the worst of all tortures. Like someone had looked into her mind, found her most private, perfect of dreams – one she hadn't even allowed herself to fully contemplate herself – and presented it to her, on a silver platter, to enjoy before inevitably ripping it away from her. She had watched how he had doted on Lainey, how Lainey had responded to his affections and saw how their life could have been! They would have been happy! The one blessing was that Roland wasn't there – that would have been too much, his absence kept her in the present. It was when the thought of him sitting at the table with them had popped into her head, when she thought of her little knight and realized that he was with his mother – Ah yes! Remember her? The woman you killed? You're a Monster! That she had snapped out of the fantasy she had allowed to enter her mind. Thankfully the meal had ended and she had high tailed it out of there to the reprieve offered by the solitude of the stables. Once again choosing to run, though this time maybe a not-so-fancy way of running away.
She needed to clear her head, to get it together and to regroup. The past two years with Mac she hadn't realized just how open she had become. She was so removed from her life as Queen, as Mayor here that it was as though her walls had crumbled without her even realizing it. How easy it had been to just be Regina. How easy Mac made it – never asking more from her than to just be herself. And now, when she needed her armor – it was as though she didn't remember where she had stored it and Robin was creeping in without even needing to try. She needed her masks and her walls – if she was going to be able to do this, go back to Storybrooke, face Robin every day and keep him at a damn distance she needed to find the 'Evil Queen' in herself again – or at the very least 'Madam Mayor'. If she goes back like this the town, the Merry Men will crucify her. But perhaps it will be easier when she is back? She will be able to find her mask in her house? Her clothes? Her town? God damn it! When had going back become a 'when' not an 'if'? She should just jump in Charming's truck now and save herself the pain of a drawn out debate with Henry and Robin Hood.
She was going back – she knows she's going back – but they do need to work out the logistics. How to keep Alayna safe (hidden?), who was helping Mary Margaret and David? And who Regina could trust? The hair on the back of her neck prickled, drawing her from her thoughts and oh gods... She sensed Robin before she even noticed the breeze blowing through the wind tunnel created by the now open back stable door, cooling her sweat soaked skin and she realized suddenly with an ache in her chest, the most important thing she needed to 'work out' right now was how the hell she was going to get through two days in the same car as Robin?
She maintained a steady pace unloading the hay as he approached and hoped to God Robin didn't realize she knew he was there. She was a complete mess – thank God – her hair in a pony tail, no make up to speak of and she was sweating like Little John after a hunt. She breathed deeply with the exertion of both the physical labour and the intensity with which she was trying to ignore the way Robin's scent now mixed with the hay and made her dizzy. She was angry at him, oh so angry and anger was a powerful, passionate emotion. How could he ruin what they had in the blink of an eye? Without even taking a moment, hesitating at all? And then waltz back into her life two years later talking about how he missed her, regretted it all those years, turn her head and her heart and offer her everything she had been working to get over losing. Anger, she has always built her walls with anger! If she can just harness it, hang onto it long enough she will be able to keep him at bay! She just needs to focus on that anger and she will be alright.
Channeling her hurt, her pain, she paused, turning to reach for her water and taking several deep gulps of the cool liquid. Confident her mask was in place she lifted up her chin looking him right in the eyes. She had cloaked herself in her Evil Queen persona and as such the natural name that fell from her lips in greeting was 'Thief'. She had intended it to put him in his place, distance herself from him in words and actions. What she hadn't intended was for her words to come out husky due to her recent physical activities or for her to adopt the seductive tone of voice she had used as the Evil Queen. But damn it! It was was an almost pavlovian response to Robin looking at her like he wanted her for dessert. The way his eyes were blown, pupils dilated. She had wanted to be cold and patronizing to keep him at a distance. But as soon as the word left her mouth she knew it was a mistake. All did was call to both of their minds her use of the term in the Enchanted Forest and there it had become a private term of endearment – not an insult. Her eyes widened and she could practically feel the blood rushing to Robin's cock, she could see the pulse in his neck almost leap out and then he was on her, around her, engulfing her in a passionate kiss that had their tongues colliding. And damn it if she didn't respond with an eagerness she had managed to hide, even from herself. One of his hands wove into the hair as the base of her neck, loosening the ponytail she had put in when she came into the stables. His other hand snaked around her waste, fingers spread-eagled and she could feel his thumb and forefinger stroking teasingly against the side of her breast through the thin cotton of her t-shirt and bra.
God she had missed this – missed them! The hands that had been frozen since he embraced her slid up his arms across his shoulders and into his hair tugging gently as he both slowed and deepened the kiss. Her bottle of water long forgotten on the floor at their feet as he walked her backwards until her back hit the cab of the truck carrying the hay. She knew it had stop, she had to stop it, this couldn't happen… or maybe it just couldn't happen again and God if this was the last time they were going to do this she also just wanted to enjoy it.
For his part Robin was terrified that if he stopped now she would never let him touch her again. God it was so reminiscent of their time in the Enchanted Forest – no wonder it felt so achingly familiar – not just her lips, her gorgeous soft lips against his, the taste of her and the racing beat of her heart against his but the feeling in his gut. The desire and the need but also the sadness that he knew she would run again as soon as they broke apart to draw breath.
He needed to feel her skin, her glorious skin against his own so he allowed the hand that was wrapped around her waist, pulling her flush against him, to raise her singlet just enough for his hand to explore the skin of her lower back and side. The hand that had been in her hair sliding down to cup her arse, raising her a little against him and he heard her gasp as the movement had his oh so hard cock press against her through the fabric of her jeans. God if she didn't stop him soon he was going to take her right here. He couldn't believe she hadn't stopped him already, couldn't believe that she was letting him touch her; kissing him back.
He could feel her anger at him, driving the fierceness of her kiss each time he tried to slow it down. Feel it in each crash of tongues and teeth, it made is heart weep to feel the pain and hurt in her kiss, but she was kissing him back. Surely that meant that somewhere within her was forgiveness and dare he hope a chance for them to be together again? But not yet, she was not ready yet. While she clearly still loved him (he had seen it in her eyes, her striking, sad eyes) and wanted him just as much as he did her (he could feel that in her kiss, in the beating of her heart, and in her angry yet passionate kiss), if they did this now she would never forgive herself, or him. She was too angry and she needed to want to be with him with her head as well as her heart and body or this would never work, and he needed this to work. Needed Regina back in his life, for good this time – not just for a night.
It was that thought that had him finally slowing the kiss, breaking from her to tenderly press his lips to hers once more before pulling away, resting his forehead against hers. His breathing ragged. He needed to let Regina win here, needed her to feel in control of the situation or she would withdraw completely from him and he would be starting from scratch again.
"I'm sorry Milady, but I've been aching to do that since I arrived. And seeing you here, like this, calling me thief… I lost myself." He had not allowed her to pull away, kept her in his arms. Hands lightly joined behind her, his thumb softly stroking the bare skin of her back. Regina allowed them this moment, for she simply could not leave the warmth of his arms just yet.
"I won't pretend that I didn't want to kiss you Robin, for quite obviously I did… I do." She was looking down; away from him and God he just wished she would look him in the eyes! "You are my soul mate," she said, matter of fact. "I am always going to want to be with you." She finally allowing her gaze to flick over his then took a step back, breaking the tenuous lock of his hands behind her back. Robin let his arms drop to his sides. Feeling the loss of having her in his arms keenly. "But I don't trust you. I can't be with you, like this," she gestured gently at the air between them, "when I don't trust you. I can't have a relationship with you when that trust is broken. So I ask that you not do that again. Please."
"Regina I – " Robin began, his expression making clear that he was about to protest – how could he promise not to kiss her again when he was drawn to her like a moth to a flame? He didn't want to make promises that he knew he couldn't keep – how would that earn her trust?
"Please Robin," she said, her voice breaking a little and sounding so soft when she spoke the next sentence. "Please don't take advantage of my – " she nearly said love! It was as clear as if she had spoken the word out loud but she broke off with a shuddering breath. "My feelings for you. Please keep your distance and I will keep mine." She made to walk around him then but he gently took one of her hands. Not tugging or pulling, just holding lightly to ensure she understood he was not going to kiss her again.
"Regina, I will do everything I can to respect your wishes for nothing is more important to me right now than regaining your trust. All I ask is that you give me leave to prove to you that my love for you is stronger than any obstacle that may come between us. That I will not abandon you again, for anything. Allow me to earn your trust back." Regina stared at him a moment– her expression unreadable, before she gave a slight nod, removing her hand from Robin's grasp and walking to back towards her home.
"Give me twenty minutes," she called over her shoulder. Not slowing her step, her voice strong again, commanding. He could see her spine straighten and her chin rise ever so slightly, and with each slow and deliberate step she took she shed Regina and donning in her stead the Queen of the Enchanted Forest; the Mayor of Storybrooke. "Then come to mine. We need to talk about going back to Storybrooke."